September 2, 2015
by Bob Yirka

Credit: Nikkei Technology

A team of researchers with Kogakuin University has demonstrated a lithium ion battery which is not only nearly transparent, but can also be recharged with direct sunlight alone. The battery was demonstrated at Innovation Japan 2015, where the leader of the team, and president of the university explained the goals of their battery research and the benefits consumers might eventually see from it.

It was just four years ago that a team of researchers at Stanford unveiled a nearly transparent lithium-ion battery that was both see-through and bendable. The team in Japan has been working with the new technology since then, two years ago unveiling a nearly transparent battery of their own which was charged with a separate solar panel. Now, the team has upgraded that battery by allowing it to recharge itself when exposed to sunlight.

To make the new battery, the team tweaked the materials that were already in use—lithium iron phosphate for the positive electrode and lithium titanate and lithium hexafluorophosphate for the negative electrode—all ingredients that are already generally used to make lithium-ion batteries. When the battery is exposed to sunlight, it becomes slightly tinted (down to approximately 30 percent transmittance), lowering the amount of light that can pass through. The trick in getting them to be nearly transparent is in making them really thin—the electrodes are just 80nm and 90nm. After discharge, the team reports that light transmittance rises to approximately 60 percent. They also report output from the battery of 3.6V.

The team believes their transparent solar charged batteries could one day be used as "smart" windows for homes or offices, allowing for not only automatic tinting, but as energy capture and storage devices for use in a variety of ways. Taking the concept further, it is possible the idea could be extended at some point to consumer electronics, with displays or even entire casings made of the material to help keep phones, tablets and other gear operating when used outdoors or under other types of lighting. But first the new technology will have to be vetted to make sure it works as promised (it has been tested at 20 charge/discharges) and then to see if it can stand up to the rigors of daily use.

More developments in Alternative Energy. I noticed the attempts at developing "clean coal" are essentially over, having failed.

The future is clean.

More lies from the ass of a psychopath who thinks he has the right to lie.

"The Kemper County IGCC Project, a 582 MW coal gasification-based power plant, will use pre-combustion capture of CO2 to capture 65% of the CO2 the plant produces, which will be utilized/geologically sequestered in enhanced oil recovery operations.

"The Saskatchewan Government's Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Sequestration Demonstration Project will use post-combustion, amine-based scrubber technology to capture 90% of the CO2 emitted by Unit 3 of the power plant; this CO2 will be pipelined to and utilized for enhanced oil recovery in the Weyburn oil fields."

The 582-MW coal-fired Kemper power project is five months behind schedule and more than $2 billion over budget.

The facility that was originally scheduled to open this year, will use treated wastewater in its power generation process. It will also remove 65 percent of its carbon dioxide by piping it to two companies that will inject it into the ground to force oil from old wells, according to the Los Angeles Times. In addition, the coal will be pulverized and turned into gas, which will then be burned to make steam that drives turbines.

The project was budgeted for $2.4 billion but Kemper's cost increased to more than $5 billion because of changes in design and miscalculations.

The state Legislature passed a law that allows Southern Company to recoup costs from its customers.

"The Kemper plant is blowing through money faster than it blows through deadlines. The original estimated price tag of $1.8 billion has swelled to $6.2 billion. For missing the 2014 deadline, Southern was forced to repay $130 million in federal tax credits. More recently, activist and businessman Tommy Blanton won a narrow 5-4 Mississippi Supreme Court decision in February ordering Mississippi Power to refund more than $257 million in rate increases collected to help fund the power plant's construction.

In an effort to salvage the project, in mid-August, state regulators approved an emergency rate increase for Mississippi Power in order to keep the company afloat as it completes the increasingly-expensive Kemper plant. Mississippi Power customers will see a temporary rate increase of 18 percent. The increase could become permanent, depending on the utility's financial health."

"Kemper's difficulties, even its failure, would just be a regional, though expensive, business problem if not for what the project has come to represent: Perhaps the last best hope for a clean coal plant with carbon capture in the United States. Under tremendous pressure and in decline due to multiple regulations placed on mining and coal fired power plants in the Obama administrations push to fight climate change, many see Kemper as representing coal power's best survival strategy.

The question is, will it ever come on line, work properly when it does, and can other company's learn from Southern's mistakes, to reduce costs enough to make a worthwhile profit. These are all huge, unanswered questions."

"Despite billions of federal, state, local and ratepayer dollars invested in clean coal research and technologies over the past three decades, there's been no payoff in terms of electricity produced or carbon dioxide reduced.

Commenting on this fact, Politico quotes Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), senior member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, saying "If somebody had told me that all these years later and all these dollars later we've gotten no further than we've gotten I'd have not believed it. It's hard to understand." Carper finds the lack of progress, "Hard to fathom. A great disappointment."

Despite the continuing setbacks, spokesmen for Southern Company and the Department of Energy still sound positive notes regarding Kemper's prospects."